Sick
by lrhaboggle
Summary: When one gets sick, it's the job of the other to play the role of a doctor. (Last fluffy one-shot that's done twice over).
1. Sick

Elphaba woke up slowly. The day was bright, peaceful and quiet. She almost smiled because it was such a nice change from what mornings normally were for her. But wait a second! Why weren't they normal today? The green girl turned her head towards her roommate's bed. There was a lump in the sheets so, clearly, the other girl was still very much in bed, but that was the strange thing! Glinda was normally quite the early bird! Humming and dancing as she got ready for her day. But today?

"What? No morning serenades?" Elphaba asked herself as she got up and walked over to Glinda's bed. She touched the lump under the sheets and received no response. Now, Elphaba wasn't one to mommy her roommate, but she did have to admit that it would be beneficial if she at least attempted to remind Glinda that they had class in about 30 minutes. She shook the lump and spoke to it. "Rise and shine, you little idiot, we've got class to go to!" she murmured gently. It took a few more moments but, finally, she received a response.

"Mmmmmmrrrrrnnnnnnnn," it was a loud, long, irritated groan.

"Come on, Glinda, get up. Wakey, wakey," Elphaba continued, pulling the sheet away from Glinda. Normally, Elphaba wasn't one to be needlessly cruel, but messing around with Glinda was one of her favorite activities. She made sure to pull the sheets away slowly, to prolong the torture, but she stopped about halfway when she finally caught a better look at Glinda's face in the sunlight that slanted through their window.

"Sweet Oz!" Elphaba exclaimed. Glinda was curled up into a miserable little ball and she was pale, unnaturally so. Elphaba leaned over Glinda at once, brown eyes narrowing as she swiftly inspected the smaller girl. Aside from being unnaturally pale and, upon closer inspection, Elphaba could see that Glinda's eyes and nose were an angry red. That was all Elphaba needed for her previous thoughts of messing with Glinda to fly right out the window. Instead, she now had a new goal in mind...

"100o. You're sick," five minutes later, Elphaba had just finished taking Glinda's temperature and now she had the full diagnosis.

"Oh," Glinda groaned unhappily, though she wasn't exactly surprised.

"I'll call our professor and say we won't be attending class today," said Elphaba, tossing Glinda a box of tissues before heading out to find the floor's phone and make a quick call.

Another five minutes later, she was back at Glinda's bedside, a glass of water in hand.

"Wait, don't you still have to go to class?" mumbled Glinda, stuffily. She paused to blow her nose. It was very loud and wet and generally gross.

"I can't. Not when you're sick," Elphaba replied. She was going to miss going to class today because it was the one lecture she actually enjoyed, but Glinda was more important. She could get the notes from the professor later, the professor liked her enough to give her a few free passes.

"Elphie, no, go have fun. I'll be ok," said Glinda, feeling guilty at burdening her roommate. She knew how much Elphaba enjoyed this lecture. She didn't want Elphaba to miss it because of her.

"It won't be fun if I spend the entire class worrying about you," Elphaba reminded. It was meant to be something of a compliment, but Glinda seemed to wilt even further in embarrassment.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"Don't be," Elphaba shrugged. "Just give me 10 more minutes..." then before Glinda could ask why, Elphaba had darted back out of the room. Glinda was puzzled by this, but she was feeling so lousy that she didn't last longer than a few more minutes before she fell back asleep.

Elphaba ended up needing 20 minutes instead of 10, but since Glinda had fallen asleep after she was gone for only five, Glinda didn't even notice when Elphaba came back into the room. In her hands were two large containers. She walked over to Glinda's bed again with an excited and pleased smile on her face, but when she saw that Glinda had since fallen asleep, that pride faded into affection and she shook her head fondly at the sleeping beauty. She gently, gently kissed Glinda's forehead once before she turned to go. Glinda, however, was woken by the kiss, gentle as it was, and cried out before Elphaba could leave.

"Don't go yet! I'm awake," her voice was raspy and weak, but Elphaba heard it and obeyed. When she turned around, Glinda saw the containers. "Wait a sec, what are those?" she asked. Elphaba smiled soundlessly before setting one down and unscrewing the lid of the other. The warm, salty and savor smell of soup pervaded the air and Glinda sighed happily. She did not hesitate to take the container Elphaba offered her and she ate greedily as Elphaba fiddled with her own container.

A few minutes later, Glinda had downed most of her soup and finally started to slow her pace.

"Thanks Elphie, you're an Oz-send," she said, squeezing Elphaba's arm affectionately as she set the soup aside for a moment.

"Hmm, that's not usually what most people say about me," Elphaba replied with a bitter smile, but when Glinda pouted a little, Elphaba forced herself to lighten up. "I can't say I mind this new compliment, though," she added.

"Good," Glinda mumbled, half to herself and half to Elphaba. They were both still working on increasing Elphaba's esteem and lowering her self-depreciation. It was a very slow process, but at least Elphaba would take compliments now.

"Now, how about a little medicine?" Elphaba asked next, a wicked smile suddenly flitting across her green face.

"Oh, no!" Glinda despaired, her own pleased grin changing into a look of horror. Elphaba, however, refused to let her out of it and held out a bottle.

"Ugh! That's nasty!" Glinda whined as she swallowed the gunk down, crinkling her face in disgust. Elphaba's smirk widened.

"Well, you should get better soon now," she said as Glinda continued to make faces.

"You wicked thing!" Glinda growled a little. "Trust me that when I recover, I'm going to sing and dance as loud as I possibly can!"

"Ha, sure you will," Elphaba sounded amused, intentionally setting the bottle right on Glinda's nightstand. Glinda glowered but said nothing, meanwhile, Elphaba only continued to smile innocently.

The very next day, right at sunrise, Elphaba was rudely awoken from her sleep by the sound of an overly-high-pitched voice trilling to some obnoxious pop song. She cracked open one brown eye.

"Glad to see you're better," she said, voice low and raspy with sleep.

"Told you it would happen!" Glinda hummed merrily. Elphaba only continued to scowl as Glinda twirled away, busy brushing her hair and teeth at the same time, half of her makeup on, but then she added in a sincere thanks to Elphaba. "I think I got better so quickly because I had you taking care of me," she said gently and Elphaba smiled despite herself. Though she may not have acted like it, she really was glad that Glinda was better.

 **AN:** **Here's a 3** **rd** **cliché OTP Prompt: Sickness. Just as before, we're going one fic per girl with the next story either being a sequel or an AU based on your preferences.**


	2. Looking Green

Glinda woke up sometime around midnight to a storm of coughs and groans. At first, she was irritated. Being woken up by her overly-loud roommate was _not_ something she enjoyed, and it was doubly annoying just because of all the times said roommate had accused _her_ of being loud. Well, now that wasn't very fair of her if she was going to be just as loud and rude, was it now? Glinda even rolled over and sat up, ready to give her roommate a firm tongue-lashing. Her plan vanished as soon as it had come, however, when she could see her roommate already sitting upright, but balled up, a pained expression on her face visible even through the darkness of their dorm room.

"Elphie? Are you ok?" Glinda's anger faded into concern for her roommate's wellbeing. Elphaba nodded, but the fit of sneezing and coughing that followed that nod had Glinda in disbelief. She quickly got out of bed and darted down the quite dorm corridors. Right outside the RA's door was a medical kit, hanging on the wall. Glinda quickly grabbed a disposable thermometer before darting back down the way she came and right over to Elphaba's bed. One reading and four tissues later, Glinda made her diagnosis.

"Yup, 100o! You're sick," Glinda said, removing the thermometer from Elphaba's mouth and giving her some tissues in return. Elphaba groaned unhappily and took the tissue box she was offered. Of course, neither girl had needed the thermometer to gage whether or not Elphaba was sick, but Glinda had needed it for something else... After giving Elphaba a few more tissues and a pat on the head, Glinda darted back out of their dorm room. This time, however, she was off to find the nearest Shiz nurse...

All in all, it took Glinda a grand total of 20 minutes to find and drag an unhappy, tired school nurse back up to her dorm room. The fellow had protested heartily, insisting that while he was technically on the night shift, he didn't do dorm-in patients, but Glinda could be very, very persistent when she wanted to be. It might've taken awhile, but she was finally able to complain his ears off until he came running after her just to get her to shut up. Besides, he knew she was an Arduenna-Upland. That clan, though not royalty, was very rich, famous and powerful. He, a lowly and humble nurse, didn't exactly want to upset a daughter whose family had such a high standing all across Oz. For that, he finally allowed the little blond to pry him away from his office and across campus back to her dorm room.

"I've come to check up on a Ms. Elphaba Thropp?" the nurse asked impatiently the moment Glinda had him in the room. Elphaba gave him an irritated growl-groan in reply. Did he have to be so loud? It was late! And she was tired! And her head hurt! She looked at him through narrowed eyes that only narrowed further when he flicked on a light.

"Sweet Oz! You're looking green!" he muttered, slapping his forehead in an almost comical fashion. "It must be some rare disease..."

"Nurrrrrrmmmrrrr," Elphaba growled at him again.

"Oh, don't worry, my dear, I can have you all fixed up in no time!" the nurse misunderstood her groan and made a feeble, uncaring attempt to soothe her nerves. This only incited Elphaba more, but this time, Glinda spoke up.

"Umm, sir, what I think she means to say is that this is her normal skin color?" Glinda suggested.

"What? What in Lurline's name do you mean? Green is not a normal skin color!" the nurse sounded offended that Glinda would even suggest such a thing to him. "And I should know!" he added. "I have a medical degree!"

"Her skin has been like this since the day I first met her, when she was fit as a fiddle," Glinda replied. "And I should know," she added. "I am her roommate," the young girl crossed her arms.

"Do say!" the nurse sounded awed and Glinda fought back the urge to spit in his face. She hated people who acted as if they knew everything just because they had some fancy piece of paper a large group of intellects decided to give just because the person in question managed to memorize all of the government-mandated material that was out there.

"Yes. She is totally, completely, and utterly normal," Glinda repeated crossly. She turned towards Elphaba, as though to ask for the green girl's approval in what she had said. Elphaba, however, still looked deathly miserable and tired and Glinda snapped out of her pride long enough to address this pompous nurse one last time with a far more important matter: Elphaba's health.

"The only thing wrong with her is that she's sick," Glinda said sharply. "Now I would much rather you try and give her something to soothe her aches and cramps, even if only for tonight, than to gawk at her skin color, do you hear me?" her voice was cold and hard and finally, the nurse got it. He bowed awkwardly to the little blond before shuffling over to Elphaba's bedside and, against her incoherent protests, began to analyze her.

It was a very awkward, uncomfortable few minutes for Elphaba, having this strange man pawing her up, then listing off everything wrong with her body at the time, but she was not alone in feeling this way. Frankly, Glinda did not like seeing such a fellow anywhere near Elphaba, let alone touching her, especially since Elphaba had an aversion to most human contact. Had Glinda known that this nurse was the only one on staff, she would've just waited until morning! The nurse himself was no happier either, though. The way he had seen it, his peaceful night had been interrupted by two stupid college girls who couldn't wait until the morning to diagnose whatever stupid disease they had caught.

At long last, though, he completed his rudimentary scan of Elphaba, diagnosed it as a case of the flu, and then took leave of the room at once, still scowling as he walked away from the two obnoxious girls.

"Wait. What? You aren't going to prescribe any medicine?!" Glinda sounded offended.

"The flu is a virus, no medicine would help," the nurse said patronizingly.

"Not even painkillers?" Glinda sounded deeply disgusted. "What a medieval method of treating patients! Just leaving them where they lay!"

Glinda continued to haggle the poor nurse but, this time, he would not be swayed. Instead, he left the building, only pausing once to toss a little bottle of red pills over his shoulder. Glinda caught them on reflex, surprised and confused. She scanned the label: _Poppy's Pain Pills: Just pop one in until the pain pops out_. Ah, it was cheap, over-the-counter stuff. Glinda couldn't deny her severe distaste for that man, but at least he had given her a little something. Without even bothering to thank his retreating figure, Glinda turned away and headed back to her room, pills in hand. She stopped to grab a quick cup of water on the way back.

"What was that?" Elphaba asked coldly the moment Glinda returned. She didn't like being prodded by snooty nurses.

"Just making sure you were ok," said Glinda with a nonchalant shrug, much calmer now that the nurse was gone. She undid the bottle lid.

"You knew I was fine, you took my temperature and you saw that it was a mere fever," whined Elphaba, trying to accuse Glinda and understand why she had decided to call in a nurse despite the sickness being quite small. Glinda only shrugged again and handed a red pill to Elphaba.

"Just shut up and take your painkiller," she said. Elphaba groaned but, under Glinda's fierce gaze, she complied, taking the pill and water both.

"Gross. What in Oz?" Elphaba uttered a few curses as she fought to keep the nasty-tasting medicine down.

"Poor Elphie, you really _are_ looking green," Glinda teased, finally allowing herself a tiny smile. In response, Elphaba threw the empty water cup. "Ow!" she whined at the cup hit her head. Elphaba stuck her tongue out at Glinda and was about to speak again when a coughing fit hit. It was the worst yet. Elphaba shut her eyes in pain. Those pills weren't doing much yet, were they?

"Oh, Elphie!" Glinda covered her ears. It wasn't just because the coughs were loud, it was because they honestly scared her. Little flu or not, Elphaba was coughing and hacking hard. It made Glinda nervous and upset to hear.

"I'm not dying, you little idiot," Elphaba growled, voice raspy from all the coughing and sneezing. She meant it as a joke, but it came out so rough and ragged that Glinda's face suddenly became pained at the thought. Elphaba saw this change in Glinda and sighed heavily. She shook her head and cleared her throat a little.

"Oh Glinda. Glinda, Glinda, Glinda. My dear little sweet. I assure you that everything is perfectly alright. I'm not going anywhere, I'm not dying. I'm just sick. But thank you for taking care of me. I have no doubt that my recovery wouldn't have been as fast if you hadn't checked up on me like that. And hey, I think the painkillers are finally setting in!" the green girl gave Glinda a pathetic smile to reassure her. Somehow, it did the trick, and Glinda was able to smile back with at least a bit of confidence.

"You're right, Elphie, I'm being silly!" Glinda spoke both to herself and to her roommate. "Besides! I'll be here to help you the whole way! It's be Dr. Glinda Arduenna-Upland! I've got an amazing chicken-noddle soup recipe and I'm sure a few more of these tablets will have you feeling right as rain again in no time!" the little blond shook the tiny bottle, its red pills rattling inside.

"Oh, no!" Elphaba pretended to despair, but she managed to smile once again as Glinda continued to happily go on and on about all the ideas she had on how she would cure Elphaba.

In the end, both of them knew it all boiled down to time, but Elphaba stayed silent for this moment and allowed Glinda to fantasize and dream. It really did feel nice to be taken care of and not always be so stoic and unfeeling. Elphaba was sure that, of the many things in life that she would get sick from, Glinda would never be one of them, no matter how annoying she could be. At least her heart was in the right place, right? And that really was all that mattered.


End file.
